Altered gene expression profiles define pathways in colorectal cancer cell lines affected by celecoxib.
It is well established that celecoxib, a selective inhibitor of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and a tested chemopreventive agent, has several COX-2-independent activities. In an attempt to better understand COX-2-independent molecular mechanisms underlying the chemopreventive activity of celecoxib, we did global transcription profiling of celecoxib-treated COX-2-positive and COX-2-deficient colorectal cancer cell lines. Celecoxib treatment resulted in significantly altered expression levels of over 1,000 to 3,000 transcripts in these cell lines, respectively. A pathway/functional analysis of celecoxib-affected transcripts, using Gene Ontology and Biocarta Pathways and exploring biological association networks, revealed that celecoxib modulates expression of numerous genes involved in a variety of cellular processes, including metabolism, cell proliferation, apoptotic signaling, cell cycle check points, lymphocyte activation, and signaling pathways. Among these processes, cell proliferation and apoptotic signaling consistently ranked as the highest-scoring Gene Ontology terms and Biocarta Pathways in both COX-2 expresser and nonexpresser cell lines. Altered expression of many of the genes by celecoxib was confirmed by quantitative PCR and at the protein level by Western blotting. Many novel genes emerged from our analysis of global transcription patterns that were not previously reported to be affected by celecoxib. In the future, in-depth work on selected genes will determine if these genes may serve as potential molecular targets for more effective chemopreventive strategies.
Fatima
Naheed
N
Division of Cancer Prevention, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
Yi
Ming
M
Ajaz
Sadia
S
Stephens
Robert M
RM
Stauffer
Stacey
S
Greenwald
Peter
P
Munroe
David J
DJ
Ali
Iqbal Unnisa
IU
D015153:Blotting, Western; D000068579:Celecoxib; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000517:prevention & control; D052246:Cyclooxygenase 2 Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology*; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D006801:Humans; D046228:Microarray Analysis; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011720:Pyrazoles / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013449:Sulfonamides / Q000494:pharmacology*; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
D052246:Cyclooxygenase 2 Inhibitors; D011720:Pyrazoles; D013449:Sulfonamides; D000068579:Celecoxib